Envision Cambridge Advisory Committee November 27, 2017 ECAC | - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Envision Cambridge Envision Cambridge Advisory Committee November 27, 2017 ECAC | November 27, 2017 City of Cambridge Envision Cambridge envision.cambridgema.gov 1

Agenda Community Interaction • Revised goals and indicators (10 mins) • Discussion (20 mins) Urban Form • Goals and indicators (10 mins) • Strategies and actions (40 mins) • Discussion (40 mins) Next steps ECAC | November 27, 2017 City of Cambridge Envision Cambridge envision.cambridgema.gov 2

Community Interaction ECAC | November 27, 2017 City of Cambridge Envision Cambridge envision.cambridgema.gov 3

Community Interaction Goals A. Inclusion of Diversity and Social Cohesion: Maintain and enhance the diversity of Cambridge’s population, highlight a set of shared values and spaces, and enable interaction and cohesion across demographic lines. B. Social and Racial Equity: Design for equity and promote social capital among economically and socially disadvantaged populations and historically disadvantaged racial and ethnic groups. C. Civic Engagement: Empower all people to participate in public life, whether that participation is through formal political processes, community organizations, or informal community life. D. Healthy Living: Enable all people to engage in healthy behaviors, live healthy lifestyles, and access health treatment. E. Learning and Play: Facilitate lifelong learning and encourage healthy and enriching play and entertainment for people of all ages. F. Art and Expression in Public Life: Embed cultural and artistic expression in all parts of Cambridge life. Cultivate creative expression among all people in Cambridge. ECAC | November 27, 2017 City of Cambridge Envision Cambridge envision.cambridgema.gov 4

Community Interaction Indicators Goal Proposed Indicators Directional Targets Maintain or increase proportions of racial and ethnic minorities; A Racial, ethnic, and income diversity over time as well as low-, middle-, and moderate-income households Economic mobility for low income populations and B historically disadvantaged racial and ethnic Parity in economic mobility between the groups assessed groups Minority representation on City committees and Committee membership reflects the racial and socioeconomic B City government diversity of Cambridge Parity in voter turnout between precincts, and a majority of C Voter turnout by precinct eligible voters participating in local elections B, D Life expectancy by race and income Parity in life expectancy between the groups assessed Per capita City spending on recreation, arts, Maintenance or increase in per capita spending on identified E, F libraries, and non-K-12 education items Number of arts organizations, F performance/exhibition venues, and permits for Maintenance or increase in the number of identified items public events ECAC | November 27, 2017 City of Cambridge Envision Cambridge envision.cambridgema.gov 5

Discussion • Do you feel the indicators adequately track progress toward achieving the goals? • Which are the most important indicators for tracking progress? • Is there anything you would add to the list of actions? Is there anything you would remove? ECAC | November 27, 2017 City of Cambridge Envision Cambridge envision.cambridgema.gov 6

Urban Form ECAC | November 27, 2017 City of Cambridge Envision Cambridge envision.cambridgema.gov 7

Urban Form Goals A. Patterns of City Development: Strengthen the existing patterns of the city, which are marked by distinct neighborhoods, squares, corridors, institutional districts, and open spaces. B. Transitions between Uses and Districts: Ensure that new development acknowledges and complements the existing city fabric, especially at the seams between different types and scales of districts. C. Human-Scaled Urban Form: Shape new development, including uses that favor large footprints, so that it creates human-scaled experience and an active public realm. D. Public Life: Shape the design of public and publicly-accessible private spaces so they are inclusive of all people and encourage social interaction. E. Open Space: Create a connected network of high-quality open spaces that link all residents to local and regional natural assets that provide a range of activities and experiences. F. Regulatory and Development Review Process: Streamline the development review process to ensure transparent procedures, predictable outcomes, and high-quality design. ECAC | November 27, 2017 City of Cambridge Envision Cambridge envision.cambridgema.gov 8

Urban Form Indicators Proposed Indicators Directional Targets (to be tracked annually) Percentage of frontage along Mass Ave, Cambridge Maintain or increase the percentage of active frontage Street, Prospect Street, Main Street, Binney Street on primary and secondary corridors. that has active uses. New publicly accessible open space as a percentage Increase the percentage of publicly accessible open of net new development. space negotiated through private development. Percentage of residents within a 5-minute walk of an Increase access to areas underserved by safe and uninterrupted, high-quality pedestrian route pleasant routes to major open spaces. connecting to a major open space. ECAC | November 27, 2017 City of Cambridge Envision Cambridge envision.cambridgema.gov 9

Urban Form Strategies and Actions • Form of Corridors • Active Uses along the Corridors • Design of the Street Wall • Potential Areas of Change • Open Space Network • Publicly Accessible Private Open Space • Development Review Process ECAC | November 27, 2017 City of Cambridge Envision Cambridge envision.cambridgema.gov 10

Urban Form Actions Form of Corridors • Develop a form-and-performance-based code along the corridors. • Base the zoning on context-responsive “character zones” • Require a 7’ minimum setback at the fourth or fifth floor (depending on the character zone) to create a horizontal datum appropriate to the scale of the street. • No façade plane can be longer than 200’ in order to make large new development projects fit into the existing physical fabric. • Allow for height bonuses based on a flexible menu of social and environmental policies that include an additional percentage of affordable housing, higher than mandated environmental performance, the inclusion of district energy, etc. ECAC | November 27, 2017 City of Cambridge Envision Cambridge envision.cambridgema.gov 11

Urban Form Actions Urban form along the corridors Corridor C: Corridor B: 5-over-1 + bonus 4-over-1 300 Mass Ave 1924 Mass Ave. ECAC | November 27, 2017 City of Cambridge Envision Cambridge envision.cambridgema.gov 12

Urban Form Actions Case for regulating number of floors (vs. height) Source: Léon Krier, 2009, Drawing for Architecture. ECAC | November 27, 2017 City of Cambridge Envision Cambridge envision.cambridgema.gov 13

Urban Form Actions Corridor Character Zones along Mass. Ave. Waterhouse St. – Shepard St. Roseland St. – Alewife Brook Pkwy Pleasant St. – Putnam Ave. ECAC | November 27, 2017 City of Cambridge Envision Cambridge envision.cambridgema.gov 14

Urban Form Actions Draft Corridor Character Zones Zone A 3-over-1 B 4-over-1 5-over-1 C (up to 70’) D High rise ECAC | November 27, 2017 City of Cambridge Envision Cambridge envision.cambridgema.gov 15

Urban Form Actions Active Uses along the Corridors • Prohibit parking within 40’ of the front lot line. • Eliminate parking requirements (let the market decide). • Allow curb cuts on the corridors only if the parcel only has frontage on the corridor and garage entrance is no more than 20% of the width of the façade or 12’ (whichever is larger). • Loading and service areas are prohibited along corridors; access must be provided from side streets or service alleys. • Eliminate the minimum ground-level open space area requirement for parcels that are 0.25 acres in area or less. • Require sidewalk-activating uses for a minimum percentage of the front lot frontage (TBD). • Restrict areas dedicated to lobbies to 40% of the frontage or 40 LF (whichever is larger).* • For buildings with ground floor areas larger than 10K, require at least one storefront that is between 800-1200 SF* • Revise the use table to incentivize “third place” uses that have a social component. *To encourage entrepreneurial retail ECAC | November 27, 2017 City of Cambridge Envision Cambridge envision.cambridgema.gov 16

Urban Form Actions Active Uses along the Corridors What the code should prevent 345 West Broadway, South Boston 918 Cambridge Street, Cambridge ECAC | November 27, 2017 City of Cambridge Envision Cambridge envision.cambridgema.gov 17

Urban Form Actions Design of the Street Wall • A single storefront design can be no longer than 70’ in order to create visual variety at the sidewalk level. • Require the ground floor façade to be at least 75% transparent to encourage visual connections between the public realm and lobbies and shops. • Require primary building entrances to be located on the corridors to create visual variety and to encourage the mixing of building residents, shoppers, and pedestrians passing by. • Require developers to install a minimum number of street trees, as determined by the corridor character zones and the length of the parcel frontage. ECAC | November 27, 2017 City of Cambridge Envision Cambridge envision.cambridgema.gov 18